A modern entertainment system typically contains a number of components. Such components may include, but are not limited to, a video cassette recorder (VCR), a digital video disc (DVD) player, digital video recording (DVR) devices, cable and satellite set-top-boxes, home theater systems and one or more televisions (TVs). As a result of an increasing number of components, the operation of entertainment systems has become more complex. Typically, each component will have a number of different ‘operational states’ relating to where signals are received and transmitted by the component.
For example, each channel that a TV can be tuned to can be regarded as a separate operational state. In addition, modern TVs have other operational states including dedicated composite video inputs and other auxiliary inputs that the TV can be set to monitor. VCRs are another example of components that also have numerous operational states. VCRs have operational states relating to both the output of signals and the input of signals. A typical VCR can be set to transmit signals to a TV on channel 3 or 4. VCRs can also be set to record and monitor signals on different channels. Similarly, other entertainment system components typically possess a multitude of operational states.
A drawback of the increasing proliferation of components with multiple operational states in entertainment systems is that setting and maintaining the operational states of components in an operable combination has become increasingly difficult and complicated task, a task that can be referred to as configuring the entertainment system. In many entertainment systems, changing the operational state of even one component may, in certain circumstances, render the entertainment system non-functional.
This environment makes it very easy for a user to inadvertently change the operational state of one component and thereby reconfigure the entertainment system to an inoperable configuration. In these situations the user often does not know what the user did or how to return the entertainment system to the original, operable configuration. For example, in a typical VCR and TV combination, many users do not realize that the TV must be set to a designated operational state (usually channel 3 or 4) to receive the signal from the VCR. In that case, if the user accidentally or unknowingly changes the channel on the TV, the user may not be able to determine why she can no longer view signals from the VCR and consequently, since the content source is often routed through the VCR, may not be able to view any content at all.
The proliferation of components, component functions and operational states, and component complexity in use today have multiplied the ways in which a modern entertainment system may be rendered useless via an inadvertent change in the configuration of one or more components. It also makes it harder for the average user to determine what change was made and how to correct it. Thus, there is a need for entertainment systems to be able to reconfigure themselves, or at least assist users reconfigure the systems, to return it to proper operation.
Many inadvertent or unknowing changes in configuration are interpreted by the unsophisticated user as a hardware failure or some other failure on the part of their content distributor, such as a cable or satellite television distributor. Often the user is unaware that it was an action by the user that reconfigured the system. In addition, most owners of entertainment system components do not have an ongoing relationship with the component manufacturers. These owners, however, typically have an ongoing relationship with their content distribution company.
In these situations the typical user response is to call their content distributor. Calls due to configuration changes can represent a very significant portion of the calls received. If the number of these calls can be reduced, it would result in cost benefits for the content distributor. Thus, there is also a need on the part of the content distributors to reduce the number and the duration of calls to their technical assistance departments resulting from the inadvertent reconfiguration of an entertainment system.